# Any experience with LCDH at Dubai Airport?



## selpo (Nov 4, 2015)

Tried searching the forums but was unable to find any info- I will be flying thru Dubai a couple of times early next yr and wondered about the selection and pricing at LCDH at Dubai airport?

Thanks in Advance


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## Chewbacca (Oct 10, 2015)

Plenty. It's where I try to load up on sticks before/after a rotation. Cheaper and more variety than anywhere else I could find in that neck of the woods.

I'm not in the fortunate position of being able to get online purchases delivered to where I'd like them, so its the various airports well east of GMT, or at whatever hotel/cornershop with cigars I stumble upon.

This list doesn't seem to contain a lot of the regular sticks I purchase there, but I always see them there when I'm in transit. 
Dubai Voyager | November 2015 by Motivate Publishing


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## selpo (Nov 4, 2015)

Thank you very much,"Marilyn", always good to find a place to shop which has been vetted by the forum members


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## Chewbacca (Oct 10, 2015)

FWIW, there are a few places you could try out. First up, it depends on which terminal or airport you are going through. 

Dubai (DXB) has three terminals. T1 is where almost all airlines except Emirates fly from. That place has a cigar shop in the duty free section on the lower level with the booze and snacks. It has most of the mainstream Cubans like Upmanns, Cohibas, Montes, Hoyas, Bollys, Romeos, and Partagas, and a smaller selection of NCs. Davidoff is in the middle of a major push to get their name out in the region and I see their stands all over the region. It has it's own corner in the T1 cigar shop. The upside is that the staff will leave you to browse inside, but are never far away if you need help. They label most of the cigars by strength, which is handy for the noobs, and CCs and NCs are separate. Lighters are outside, about 50 meters away. 

T2, aka the 'Axis of Evil' terminal (which has characters who look like they are straight out of a Star Wars bar scene and yes, sometimes I'm one of them) doesn't have a cigar shop. At least none that I've ever noticed. But, if you wanna smoke a cigar in one of the coolest locales this far east of Tattooine, then the smoking room there is the place to go. It's, ahem, an interesting place to hang out. I've gone there with my chai and cigar and chilled with the characters on many an occasion. Met some very interesting people. Your clothes will stink like, well, you can imagine. Go big on the deo afterwards if you don’t want complaints from the whiney prick in the seat beside/behind/in front of you.

T3 is the big, fancy shop where only Emirates (afaik) flies from. I think that place has two cigar rooms at each end. They are bigger than in T1, but I'm not 100% about the choice. I'll get back to you on that one in due course. I usually snatch my faves and race for the gate. However, my next layover will be rather more sedate, so I will post more detail here as and when. 

No idea about DWC, aka Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai, which is supposed to be huge, but still getting off the ground, no pun intended. Damn sure that will have mighty fine cigar shops when it does. That airport is towards Abu Dhabi, in the Jebel Ali industrial zone, and that's about all I can tell you for now. 

There is an LCDH in Dubai, but it is at the far end of the Emirate (FYI, Dubai is an emirate, not a city) near or at the Jumeirah Beach Residence (aka JBR) area. Never been, but I might check it out if I can. Sounds quite fancy, and would be well in keeping with the rest of the place. Expect lots of well to do types arriving in their million dollar sports cars. Not sure if my 'straight outta tattooine' look will pass muster at the door, so I might have to use Obi Wan's mind trick to get me in - "these aren't the droids you're looking for." A taxi directly there should set you back maybe 80 -100 dirhams. Take the metro for an hour and pay about 10 dirhams for the short trip from the station to the LCDH. 

A bit closer is the Smoke Shop at the Mall of the Emirates. It has a very broad selection of Cubans and NCs, as well as lighters and even humidors and prices are reasonable for Dubai. It is right opposite the Carrefour store, at the far end, opposite the shopping carts. The downside is that asking to be left alone to consider a possible purchase is ummm....challenging. Expect an assistant to be right at your side, buzzing like an annoying mosquito. Still worth checking out if you have a bodyguard to keep the assistant outside. You can make it in about 45 mins on the metro from the airport. 

City Center Mall is just a couple of short stops (two or three, I think) on the metro from DXB and is bound to have a Smoke Shop too. Almost all those mega malls follow the same layout with food courts at either end, and with French food stores like Carrefour or Geant. On my watch list for future visits. 

Dubai Mall is likewise bound to have a decent cigar shop, but the place is so huge that I have always got totally lost in it – getting in is easy – getting out is a nightmare. You can get there on the same tram which takes you to City Center and the Mall of Emirates, but in about maybe 20-25 mins. Another place for future research. Also has a huge bookshop. 

Prices? Good question. I'm in the 'beggars can't be choosers' camp because of the places I work. so online is impossible. Even Santa whatshisname doesn't deliver there. 

I rate them as cheaper than 'sin-taxed to death' Europe and the US. I dread to think of how much I could have saved by purchasing online. The kids will have to go to school without shoes for another couple of years.... 

You can add your tuppence about the prices here. 

One thing I've noticed is that choice is limited, but increasing. Don't expect an Aladdin's cave of smokes in most places (remember Toto, that we’re not in Kansas), but it sure beats the hell out of the days when it was great if they even had cigars of any type at airports in the wider region. It used to be "Hey! Cigars" and we bought them without a second thought or even looking at what the brand was - it looked like a cigar and that was good enough. Now we have time to think and choose. Spoiled, dude, we are now.

Another benefit to the region is that there are plenty of places where you can smoke in peace and not fear being lynched by the anti-smoking Nazis in CONUS and the EU. There are plenty of cigar clubs in Dubai and fewer (but increasing) numbers in places like Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Doha, Kuwait, Manama, Muscat, Amman, Aden, and Beirut, to name but a few. Some are in very plush hotels, and some have booze, and some don't. It depends on local attitudes. 

Heck, I've been to cigar clubs in Kabul and a couple of spots in Iraqistan or way up on the Karakorum, although to call them 'clubs' would be pushing the trade description act a wee bit too far. A few crates fashioned into tables and chairs with a bit of foam nailed to them is what a few places had instead of Tuffts. Tough luck (sic) if that isn’t what you were expecting. I don’t know about you, but I prefer to take my smokes with the salt of the earth, not the upper crust. 

I've sauntered into teahouses in Tehran, Torkham, Tripoli, Bamako, Bagram, and Bangui and the room was full of cigar smokers. No better time to light up a cheaper one, while taking time to hide the fancier sticks and reach for the cheap plastic lighter (instead of the fancy Ronson or Zippo), just in case they get busy on their phones texting their cousins and working out how much my skin is worth on the market. 

Half the fun is finding a great cigar in such unconventional places, and the other half is where you have it, and who, and what you have it with.


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## selpo (Nov 4, 2015)

Thank you for such a detailed response, Chewbacca.

I usually fly into and out of T3 and I think LCDH has a storefront there in addition to what is available at Dubai duty free with the liquors and cigs. Did enjoy the smoking room in their first class lounge and enjoyed a HU Magnum 46.


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## Chewbacca (Oct 10, 2015)

Spoke to a bloke who knows the region and cigars like the back of his hand, and he swears that the Lebanon has the best cigars in the region, bar none.


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## selpo (Nov 4, 2015)

Thank you for the update


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## selpo (Nov 4, 2015)

Update- just passed thru Dubai Airport and checked prices and selection in Duty Free for the heck of it.
Had a decent selection of cubans with most ofthe popular ones available- Monte 2 and 4, Party 4 and 5, cohiba robustos, maduros and almost all of the Siglo line, Ryj cedros and Ramon Allones Scc and superiores- the only thing cheaper than our online vendors was the superiores at $97 and the oldest box they had was from Dec 2014.
Party No. 4, box of 10 was $108 but box of 25 was $278.00
They had a ton of Davidoff's, all priced higher than our vendors.
I am not going to waste anytime on my way back.
FYI.


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